California: Environmentalists Fight Green Building Code?
I have often written about the environmental benefits of green buildings. However, this past week the Los Angeles Times published an article addressing how California environmentalists fought to block California from implementing a mandatory green building code. Since 2004 all new state buildings in California have been required to obtain LEED Silver certification. The Governor of California in an effort to further green building was poised to pass a green building code which would would slash water use, mandate the recycling of construction waste, cut back on polluting materials and step up enforcement of energy efficiency in new homes, schools, hospitals and commercial buildings statewide. The proponents of the green building code had high hopes and David Wells, executive director of the California Building Standards Commission said: "It is going to change the whole fabric of how buildings are built by integrating green practices into our everyday building code""The rest of the nation will be looking at what we have done." The environmentalists, who one would assume would support such an initiative fought adamantly to block its passage stating that it would create confusion in the marketplace by allowing buildings to be certified without the requirement of third party verification which is required by the USGBC and its LEED certification system. Is this the first of many challenges to be brought by environmental groups that new green building codes essentially will amount to claims of "greenwashing?"
